AID The
United States is determined to move heaven and earth to help Ukraine win its
battle against Russia, the US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday.
The US official spoke before the representatives of 40 countries who convened
at the US air base in Ramstein, Western Germany, for talks over how to raise
Ukraine’s military capabilities. Ukraine clearly believes it can win and so
does everyone here Austin added. On the ground Moscow is trying to gain total
control over the region of Donbas and the southern part of Ukraine. Kiev mainly
needs heavy artillery and armoured vehicles to repel the invaders.
TENSION The Republic of Moldova wants a peaceful solution to the tensions
in the breakaway region of Transdniester, the country’s president Maia Sandu
says. Transdnister belongs to Moldova, president Sandu has said after a
meeting of the Higher Security Council summoned after the latest incidents in
the area which had been provoked by warmongers. Sandu has reiterated the
Republic’s stand for peacefully settling the conflict in Transdniester and
denied any attempt by Chisinau to set up an economic blocade in the pro-Russia
breakaway region. Chisinau lost control over the breakaway region in 1992 less
than a year since the ex-soviet country had proclaimed its independence, following
an armed conflict, which ended after Russian troops intervened on the side of
the separatists. Russia’s former president Boris Yeltsin pledged to pull out
the troops from Transdniester at the OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999. Roughly
15 hundred Russian servicemen are still deployed in the region as well as significant
quantities of military gear.
LAW In Bucharest, the Offshore Bill is to be
discussed this week by the specialised committee of the Senate, the first
parliamentary chamber to vote on the act. The bill regulates the development of
the natural gas reserves in the Black Sea, and stipulates that the Romanian
state has pre-emptive rights to purchase these resources. The Senate is still
waiting for the official opinion of the Economic and Social Council before
discussing the bill, for which the leaders of the ruling coalition have taken
responsibility. The Senate’s vote is expected to take place in May.
REFUGEES The Romanian Border Police announced that
the number of Ukrainian nationals that entered the country on Monday was 38.3%
higher than on the previous day. According to a news release, 4,412 Ukrainian
citizens entered Romania in 24 hours. Since the start of the crisis, over
786,000 Ukrainian citizens have crossed the border into Romania. According to
the Border Police, measures have been taken to reinforce border security.
COVID-19 According to the latest figures released
by the authorities in Bucharest, 724 COVID-19 infections have been reported in
Romania in the past 24 hours as well as two related fatalities. Most of the
cases, 123, have been reported in the country’s capital city, Bucharest. Over 1,200
people are currently being treated in hospitals out of whom 224 in ICUs.
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